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SACRAMENTO — The Florin JACL will hold its 16th annual Women’s Day Forum on Saturday, Nov. 22, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the CSU Sacramento Alumni Center, located at 6000 J St., next to Hornet Football Stadium.

This year’s theme is “A Bridge Over the Pacific.” The event will include breakfast, a sushi lunch, manju give-aways, and entertainment.

Speakers and topics will include:

• “From TV to Paper,” Stephanie Nishikawa, former TV personality;

• “Peace Over the Pacific,” Marielle Tsukamoto, Florin JACL president;

• Tom Vinik, origami specialist;

BERKELEY — Taiko groups from Japan and North America will be featured in the International Taiko Festival on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 23, at 3 p.m. at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, located at Bancroft and Telegraph.

This year’s event will celebrate the 40th anniversary of San Francisco Taiko Dojo, which was established by Grand Master Seiichi Tanaka as the first taiko group in North America.

Following are profiles of the guest artists:

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — A delegation from South San Francisco’s sister city in Japan —Kishiwada in Osaka Prefecture — paid a visit on Nov. 5 to celebrate the Bay Area city’s centennial.

About 80 people attended the dinner, which was held at the Basque Cultural Center.

The visitors were greeted by South San Francisco Mayor Pedro Gonzalez, Vice Mayor Karyl Matsumoto, the South San Francisco Sister City Committee, and Consul General of Japan Yasumasa Nagamine and his wife, Ayako.

Matsumoto, who served as mayor in 2000 and 2004, will do so again starting next month.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — A former vice welfare minister and his wife were found murdered in Saitama on the morning of Nov. 18, while the wife of another former vice welfare minister was stabbed at their home in Tokyo in the evening, police said, pointing to possible serial attacks against former ministry bureaucrats.